MDI Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications firm Telkom Indonesia, has formed an investment fund called Arise with venture capital firm Finch Capital, DealStreetAsia has reported.
Arise has a target of $40m for its close and will invest in Indonesia-based startups with a sweet spot at the post-seed, pre-series A point. The intent is to invest at a stage neglected by seed-stage investors that have made the leap to growth-stage deals.
Aldi Adrian Hartanto, a partner at Arise who is also vice-president of investment at MDI Ventures, told DealStreetAsia that Telkom Indonesia and Finch Capital have both contributed to the vehicle together with third-party limited partners.
MDI Ventures was launched in 2016 with $100m to invest over four years, and was supplied with another $500m from its parent company for a growth fund three months ago. It formed a partnership fund with KB Investment – a subsidiary of financial services group KB Holding – in September 2019.
Arise portfolio companies will get the chance to access other state-owned enterprises through Telkom Indonesia, while Netherlands-headquartered Finch Capital, which is currently also raising a $75m Southeast Asia fund, will provide the opportunity to partner its corporate LPs.
